Flight 990 victims remembered

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Jennifer Dille was three months pregnant when her grandmother, Maurine Ross, was killed on EgyptAir Flight 990.

On Tuesday, Dille marked the one-year anniversary of the crash carrying the six-month-old girl she named Mara in her grandmother's honor.

''I think we feel a lot better able to deal with things now that we've had a year to grieve,'' said Dille, who lives in Arizona.

More than 600 relatives, friends and dignitaries gathered at a seaside Newport park to remember the day the Boeing 767, en route to Cairo, plunged into the ocean off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, claiming 217 victims.

A granite monument was dedicated with the inscription, ''They are not gone from us,'' in French, Arabic and English. The monument is roughly hewn on three of its four sides, symbolizing the families' pain. On the ground, bricks are etched with the names of the victims.

In Cairo, many Egyptians arranged for independent religious ceremonies to mourn loved ones who perished in the crash. The 35 identified remains of Egyptian victims are still in the United States.

The last trip to Newport for many mourners was right after the crash, when they first learned the magnitude of the disaster. The mood was somber as they returned to Brenton Point State Park on Tuesday.

Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, the Rhode Island medical examiner, announced she had identified the remains of 128 victims. Many of the 6,000 tissue fragments retrieved from the crash site remain unidentified.

The news was a painful reminder of when families first learned how badly the bodies were damaged, said Mike Crow, of Edmonds, Wash., whose wife's uncle and cousin were killed. Crow got word two days ago that some remains had been identified as those of his relatives. Now, his family has something to bury.

''I feel really bad for the people who aren't going to get anything back,'' Crow said.

Five coffins of unidentified remains had already been buried in the Island Cemetery in Newport. A sixth was buried Tuesday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall attended the service and said his agency was working to determine the cause of the crash. He said there is no sign of mechanical failure so far, and a final report may be released by December.

On Wednesday, the NTSB will allow families to tour the aircraft wreckage, stored in a hangar at a former Navy base.